Putting Blake Griffin’s monster game in perspective
In the whole history of OU basketball, a player had scored at least 40 points 19 times. That includes five games from Wayman Tisdale (61, 55, 51, 46 and 44) and two from Stacey King (48, 40).
In the whole history of OU basketball, a player had grabbed at least 20 rebounds in a game 20 times. That includes four games from Alvan Adams (28, 25, 21, 21), two from Clifford Ray (22, 20), two from Stacey King (23, 21), two from Don Sidle (27, 21) and two from Harvey Grant (23, 20).
Only twice have such dominant games intersected. On March 5, 1975, Adams had 43 points and 25 rebounds as the Sooners beat Iowa State 84-79 at the OU Field House. On Dec. 28, 1983, Tisdale had a school-record 61 points and 22 rebounds in a 112-72 rout of Texas-San Antonio in the All-College Tournament.
Now Blake Griffin has joined them in the 40-20 club. Griffin had 40 points and 23 rebounds Saturday in a 95-74 rout of Texas Tech.
This is Wilt Chamberlain territory. A 40-20 game was right up Wilt’s alley, and while no player ever can reach such heights consistently, to do so once is a sign of greatness.
How great? Well, Griffin’s game clearly is one of the greatest in OU history. The only other game that might challenge the trio is Harvey Grant’s 40 points and 19 rebounds against Oral Roberts on Dec. 29, 1987.
None of the monster games came against a powerhouse. It’s hard to get 40 points or 20 rebounds against great opponents, and it’s darn near impossible to get both against great foes. That’s why Bryant Reeves’ 33 points and 20 rebounds against Kansas in 1995 ranks as maybe the greatest game I’ve ever seen someone play live. That KU team boasted 7-foot-2 Greg Ostertag, 6-11 Scot Pollard and 6-10 Raef LaFrentz. That Jayhawk post trio played a combined 32 NBA seasons. Yet Big Country dominated, and OSU beat KU 79-69.
But still, 40/20 is an historic game. I would rank Adams’ game against Iowa State as the best in OU history; those Cyclones weren’t great (4-10 in the Big Eight), but frankly neither were those Sooners. OU needed almost every point and rebound from Adams that day.
Texas Tech isn’t very good, either, but Griffin’s Sooners are — No. 2 in the nation. In Griffin’s defense, he scored a bunch early, when the Red Raiders were making a game of it. And Texas-San Antonio was completely outclassed 25 years ago in the All-College.
All in all, an amazing statistical performance by Griffin. Worthy of being included with Adams and Tisdale, the other giants of OU basketball.
For perspective, I tried to find how many times this has happened in NCAA history. I couldn’t really tell, but I found a few games that are memorable:
* In Wilt Chamberlain’s varsity debut at Kansas, he had 52 points and 31 rebounds against Northwestern.
* In the 1968 Midwest Regional first round, Houston’s Elvin Hayes had 49 points and 27 rebounds against Loyola-Chicago. In the Midwest Regional final, Hayes had 39 points and 25 rebounds in a 103-68 rout of TCU.
* In the 1961 Mideast Regional final, Ohio State’s Jerry Lucas had 33 points and 30 rebounds in an 87-74 victory over Kentucky.
Anytime you’re on a list with Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry Lucas and Elvin Hayes, you’re in good company.
-------------Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel. Visit Berry's website here.
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Of those 20 games in OU history with a player grabbing at least 20 rebounds, are you including Blake’s three 21 rebound games this year against Davidson, Gardner-Webb and Purdue?